Just a Little
by b-chan1
Summary: Everybody else says there’s something off, something inhuman about him. But she knows that everybody has to have a little bit of humanity in them, just a little. A Naruto Christmas Story.


Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This story is mine. No taking.

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Just a little

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Everybody else says there's something off, something inhuman about him. But she knows that everybody has to have a little bit of humanity in them, just a little. A Naruto Christmas Story.

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She turned the present over and over in her hands, hidden behind her back. She didn't know why, but she was nervous. That was silly. It was just a gift, don't read anything into it, okay? He's her friend, and she gets her friends presents for Christmas. That's just the way it goes. You don't need to accept it if you don't want it, and it doesn't mean I like you or anything. You're older than me, that's just be disgusting. This just means…we're friends, right?

So why couldn't she just give him the gift?

Anko sighed. Steeling herself, she walked up to his desk and stood there until he noticed her.

"What is it? Shouldn't you be home with your family?"

Orochimaru stared at her, his eyes taking in every detail. He noticed how her heart was pounding faster, she was nervous. Her shoulder muscles were twitching, what was she doing with her hands? She had something behind her back. Was it a weapon? No, she would have attacked him already.

He was baffled, a not too common occurrence. Just what was going on?

Anko sighed again. Fast enough that she couldn't talk herself out of it, she put the present on the desk in front of him.

He stared at it. It was a small box, wrapped in brightly coloured paper. Green trees and gold stars and smiling white snowmen with black hats and blue scarves, all on a red background. It was cheery enough to make somebody sick.

"What is that?" The almost-but-not-quite derision was obvious in his voice. Certainly there was scorn, as well. And possibly some anger.

But there was also a question. More than just the statement, there was a question in his voice, asking not just 'what' but 'why', as well.

"It's a present," Anko told him. He poked it with a finger, glaring at her.

"I know that it's a present. What is it, beyond a present?"

"Well, you need to open it to find out."

Orochimaru shrugged. Girls, especially young ones, did some bizarre things. This was probably one of them. He took a kunai and began slitting the tape.

"Hey! Not now!"

He stopped the slitting, and looked at her. "Why not now? If not now, then when?"

Anko stared at Orochimaru. "Tomorrow, of course. It's a Christmas present. You need to open it on Christmas. That's what you do with Christmas presents."

He thought about that for a moment, not sure which was more surreal. Anko getting him a Christmas present was weird, yeah. But the idea of actually _waiting _and opening it later seemed absolutely alien. If it was important, then he should open it now. If it wasn't important, then why bother?

"Why?"

Anko shuffled her feet, embarrassed. "Why not? It's Christmas. I get presents for my friends. Just don't read anything into it, okay? It doesn't mean I like you or anything. I just…I wasn't sure if anybody had gotten you anything, and I didn't want you to feel left out."

Orochimaru thought about that for a moment. "You know I didn't get you anything in return, right? And I'm not going to, either. Don't think you can use this to curry favor with me or anything."

Anko shook her head. "Of course not," she informed him. "Christmas is about giving. If I expected something in return, I wouldn't have bothered."

Orochimaru had never really thought about it like that. He knew that Jiraiya and Tsunade always had those group fight things that he never participated in. And in the academy, his classmates had parties that he was never invited to. And there were training sessions with his sensei that Orochimaru had never gone to.

But Orochimaru had never really thought that he was being left out. He always had other things to do, learning new jutsu or refining the ones he knew, always something about getting stronger. The idea that people were excluding him had never occurred to him.

But Anko was right. Nobody _had_ gotten him anything. Orochimaru thought about how that made him feel. He felt… a little sad, he guessed. He looked at the box sitting on his desk, and felt a bit better.

"Oh…"

Anko almost smiled, then thought better of it. "Well, I'll leave you to your work, I guess. See you tomorrow?"

Orochimaru nodded, still thinking about the present. Anko turned to leave, began walking off. It wasn't until she opened the door that Orochimaru made a decision.

"Anko, wait!"

She stopped and turned around, evidently curious. Orochimaru began opening drawers in his desk, searching for something, anything.

"Um..I did get you something, actually. Hang on just a minute…"

She walked back to his desk, her brow crinkling as she wondered what was going on.

Orochimaru hurriedly looked through the contents of his drawers, trying to find something that would make a suitable Christmas present. Weapons? No, that didn't really fit with the spirit of the holiday. Scrolls? These were all too advanced, these ones too simplistic. How about a blank one? No, she already had plenty of those.

A sparkle from something caught his eye. He rummaged, trying to find whatever it was. Wasn't sparkling a thing that made presents good? Tsunade certainly liked things that sparkled. Hopefully girls in general like the same things Tsunade did.

Ah, there it was. A red stone, a ruby. It was a small, faceted disc, about the same size as Orochimaru's thumbnail. It caught the light as he turned it one way and another, sending sprinkles of light around the room. He was going to try and use it to store chakra or something, maybe see if he could get it to heat up on command. It was actually fairly expensive, the jewel quality was quite high. Orochimaru demanded the best in all his tools, after all.

But right now, he needed a present and this looked like the only thing that would do. And besides, he could always buy a new ruby. It probably wouldn't have held heat very well, anyway.

"Um…I got this for you. Sorry it isn't wrapped," he said lamely. "I guess you can put it in a necklace, or something. It's a bit big for a ring…But, um…It certainly looks pretty, right?" He laughed, a small forced sound. This time, Anko did smile, partly because the ruby was indeed quite pretty, and partly because she wanted Orochimaru to feel more at ease.

"This is really for me?" They both knew it wasn't true, that if it was, it would have been wrapped and put in a nice jewelry box. But Orochimaru nodded anyway, and Anko knew that he was making an effort. "Thank you very much," she told him. "I'll get this put in a necklace as soon as I can."

Orochimaru nodded. "Yes, you should do that. I'm sure it will look quite nice on you." He handed it to her carefully, their fingers touching for just a moment. Anko smiled at him, and out of reflex, he smiled back. It was a small smile, barely a lifting of the corner of his lips. But for Orochimaru, man of absolute stoniness and seriousness, it was a major thing to do. "Well, you should get back to your family, I guess."

Anko nodded. "I should. I mean, I will. And I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

Orochimaru shook his head. "Tomorrow is Christmas. Spend it with your friends. I'll see you on Sunday, that will be fine."

Anko smiled once more, nodded once more, and then left. As the door to his house swung shut, Orochimaru looked at the box sitting on his desk. Carefully, he picked it up and set it underneath the branches of his bonsai tree. He looked at the arrangement, not sure how he felt about it.

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Later, Orochimaru would go on to defect from Leaf Village. He would become an S-Class criminal, and he would mark Anko with the curse seal, something she would always hate him for.

But every once in a while, late at night, when Anko knew that every other person in the village was asleep, she would go to her dresser. The second drawer from the top had a false back that nobody else knew about. Inside of that secret space, there was a jewelry box.

And every once in a while, Anko would take out that jewelry box. She would open it, and she would put on a beautiful ruby necklace, a faceted disc about the size of her thumbnail. It was set in a ring of gold, with a lovely silver chain.

She would look at herself in the mirror, admiring the necklace. She didn't wear it out in public, it would raise too many questions that she didn't feel like answering. But she knew what the necklace meant. It meant that everybody, even Orochimaru, the most heartless of criminals, had just a little bit of human in him. And she knew that if somebody took a step, then Orochimaru might be willing to meet them halfway.

Owari

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Author's note: That was interesting. I wanted to write a Christmas piece for Naruto, to match my One Piece ficlet. Originally it was going to be about Naruto and somebody, then I decided that everybody would do that, and I wanted to be different. Then I was going to write it about Anko and Iruka, but decided that I was already doing that with Throughout. But I still wanted to write about Anko, so I chose an earlier time period of her life. It happened to be when she was apprenticed to Orochimaru. So she gave him a present, and it went on from there. I guess all Orochimaru wants is love.

It was fun, though. And I hope you enjoyed it.

And now, because I think you all deserve it, here's a quick update on Last Step 10, by far my most popular story.

So far, it's not going too well. I know generally how the chapter will begin, I just don't have any of it written yet. See, Naruto went through this long period of suckiness. That fight with Sasuke in the manga was just absolutely disgusting. I hated it with a passion. It was boring, predictable, drawn out, and just plain stupid. Don't bother telling me that you liked it or that you think it was an important part of the plot, I just don't care. Pretty much that entire "sasuke running away" thing just completely sucked, and I'm damn glad it's over.

Problem is, because of this long, sucky arc, I kind of lost interest in Naruto. It's very hard for me to write about something I don't like, and I just didn't like Naruto, so I had trouble writing about it. I'm just now beginning to get over my hatred of Naruto, mostly because the Kakashi Gaidan appears to be at least mildly interesting. And I'm writing again, as you all see from this.

So hopefully, I'll start working one Last Step 10. Naruto is getting better, the series is getting better, and so am I.

Thanks for putting up with me. I treat all my readers way worse than they deserve.

Merry Christmas and a happy new years, for all of you.


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